2. In The Beginning

Introduction

“To get the right answer, you must ask the right question.”

How was school today? // Give me a high and a low from your day.

Why can’t my spouse remember to set the trash barrels out? // Why am I so angry about trash barrels?

What is God’s plan for my life? // God, what do you want me to know and do today?

It’s the same when reading the Bible. To correctly understand a passage, we must ask the right questions. In other words: What questions does this passage answer?

Genesis 1 is the subject of a lot of argument and debate among Christians and non-Christians alike.

When did the events in Genesis 1 take place?

How did God make everything (see Gen 1:24-25)?

Claim: To rightly understand the creation story in Genesis 1, we must ask the right questions. We need to know what questions Genesis 1 is answering if we are to correctly interpret this story.

(A) Where did everything come from? (B) What does it mean to be human? Read: Genesis 1:1-2:3.

Body

Where did everything come from? What is the origin of the universe?

Exposition: Genesis 1:1…

God created it.

Something does not come into existence from nothing. Before verse 1, nothing existed except God. Then, God created everything.

The sun is not a god! (And the Earth is not a goddess.)

Who is God? … God is the creator of everything.

Illustration: The Sims (?)

Applications: Colossians 1:16-17

God has authority over everything—it’s God universe.

God knows best how everything should be—he designed it.

We owe God everything—our very existence comes from him.

What does it mean to be human? Who are we?

Exposition: Genesis 1:26-28…

We are God’s image on Earth.

This is a radical departure from both ancient and modern beliefs.

In ancient Egyptian creation stories, humans were born from the tears that fell from the eyes of Re, the sun god.

In the ancient Babylonian creation story, Enuma Elish, the god Marduk kills the sea goddess and cuts her dead body in half. He uses half of her carcass to make the sky and the other half to make the earth. He then takes the blood of another god who died in the battle and mixes it with clay to form humans. He makes these humans to be slaves, doing hard physical labor and serving the gods.

Scientists today tell us that we are the accidental byproduct of billions of years of a blind, random evolutionary process of natural selection. If that’s true, there is no such thing as right or wrong.

But the Bible has a high view of humanity: we are the image of God in the world… Come back next week for more on that.

We exist to bring God’s image to bear in the rest of Creation (v. 28).

We’re not the owners—God is. We are his proxies, his managers, his stewards. We exercise dominion over the rest of creation on God’s behalf as his representatives.

We don’t rule over creation for our own gain but for God’s glory and the good of creation itself.

Illustration: The Chronicles of Narnia, nobility, virtue, goodness, honor, integrity, generosity, and selflessness…

Application: We’re following Jesus together for the glory of God and the common good. Is that statement true of you?

Conclusion: An Invitation to Enter God’s Rest

Genesis 2:1-3; John 19:30; Hebrews 4:9-10.

Genesis 2:1–3 ESV

1 Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. 2 And on the seventh day God finished his work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all his work that he had done. 3 So God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it God rested from all his work that he had done in creation.

John 19:30 ESV

30 When Jesus had received the sour wine, he said, “It is finished,” and he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.

Hebrews 4:9–10 ESV

9 So then, there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, 10 for whoever has entered God’s rest has also rested from his works as God did from his.

God is inviting everyone here to enter his rest… Pastor Jamaal Williams says we work so hard to provide for ourselves, to prove ourselves, to promote ourselves, and to pursue our own happiness, when what we really need to do is trust God for all of that and find our rest in him.

Have you entered God’s rest today?